Nursing Education

1. ESSAY TYPE TESTS,
SHORT ANSWER
QUESTIONS, MULTIPLE
CHOICE QUESTIONS,
RATING SCALE
Prof. (Dr.) Virendra Singh Choudhary

2. ESSAY TYPE TESTS/
EXAMINATIONS

3. INTRODUCTION

4. CONTD…………
• Essay tests were in use earlier than 2300
B.C. Until the turn of 20th century, essay
tests were only the form of written
examinations. Essay tests refers to any
written tests that requires an examine to
write a sentence, a paragraph or longer
passages and that demands a subjective
judgement, about its quality and
completeness when it scored.

5. CONTD……
• The essay type tests or examination are
most familiar and widely used. The
length of the required responses may
vary from one sentence to a lengthy
composition requiring a day or more to
complete in a comprehensive examination
for some type of professional
certification. For e.g. Dissertation of M.Sc.
nursing or PhD thesis.

6. DEFINITION

7. • “An essay test presents one or more
questions or other tasks that require
extended written responses from the
persons being tested”
Robert LE and David AF
• “An essay test is a test containing questions
requiring the student to respond in writing.
Essay type emphasize recall rather than
recognition of the correct alternative. Essay
tests may require extended responses”
Gilbert Sax, 1989.

8. PRINCIPLES FOR PREPARING
ESSAY TYPE TESTS:-
• Do not give too many lengthy questions.
• Avoid phrases e.g. discuss briefly.
• Questions should be well structured with specific purpose or
topic at a time.

9. CONTD……..
• Words should be simple, clear and carefully selected.
• Do not allow too many choices.
• According to the level of students difficulty and complexity
items has to be selected.
• The desired outcome of the area tested should be set up as a
basis for grading

10. CLASSIFICATION
OF ESSAY TYPE
QUESTIONS BY
NORMAN E.
GODMAN

11. EXTENDED RESPONSE
• In extended response, no restricted is placed on
the student as to the point he or she will discuss
and the type of organization student will use.
• Students may select those points that he/she
thinks as most important and relevant to his/her
argument and students may organize the
material in whichever he wishes

12. EXAMPLE
• Describe the health status of India and suggested
measures by different health committees
constituted from time to time in India.
• An extended response type of essay question permits the
students to demonstrate their ability to
• Recall factual knowledge
• Evaluate their factual knowledge.
• Organize their ideas.
• Present their ideas in a logical and coherent fashion.
• Writing skills(style, quality) that this type of question
makes the greatest contribution

13. • In restricted response, the student is
more limited or restricted in or as to
form and scope of his/her answer
because student is specifically told the
context in which his or her answer is to
made
Restricted response

14. EXAMPLE:-
• Describe in not more than 100 words,
the recommendation made by the health
survey and development committee with
regard to improvement of health care
delivery system in India.

15. CLASSIFICATION
BY OTHERS

16. • Wiedmann (1993) observed that an
essay type question may use the following
eleven words signifying the simple to
higher mental processes
• What, who, when, which and where
• List
WIEDMANN’S CLASSIFICATION

17. CONTD……….
• Describe
• Contrast
• Compare
• Explain
• Discuss
• Develop
• Summarize
• Evaluate

18. WS Monroe and RE carter(1993) list the following
Essay type of question:-
• Analysis
• Cause or effect
• Classification
• Comparison of two ideas or things in general.
• Outline
• Reorganization of facts etc.
WS Monroe and RE carter

19. ADVANTAGES OF
ESSAY TYPE
TESTS

20. CONTD…..
• Easier to prepare and administer a six question
extended response essay test than to prepare 60
multiple choice questions.
• Assess an examinee’s ability and organize and
present his ideas in a logical and coherent
manner
• Abilities like logical thinking, critical reasoning
and systematic presentation etc. can be the best
evaluated.

21. CONTD…….
• Helps to induce and develop to study habits such
as preparing outlines and summaries, organizing
arguments for and against a topic.
• Guessing is eliminated to some extent.
• Examinees freedom to respond within broad
limits.
• More economical to use essay type tests than
objective type tests.

22. • It can be used as an instrument for
measuring and improving expression
skills in language of the examinees.
• They are more helpful in valuating
quality of teaching process.
• Students focus on learning broad
concepts.
CONTD…..

23. DISADVANTAGES
OF ESSAY TYPE
TESTS

24. They possess relative low validity and reliability
because of
• Contaminated by extraneous factors like spelling,
good handwriting, neatness, lengths of answer.
• Halo effect based judgement by previous
impressions.
• Mood of the examiner.
• First impression
CONTD……

25. CONTD……
• Essay questions have “question to question carry
effect”
• Essay question have “examinee to examinee
carry effect”
• The quality of handwriting.
• Some examiners too liberal in marking and some
too strict.

26. CONTD…….
• It may not provide a true picture of the comprehension
level of the examinee
• Time consuming both for the examiner and the
examinee
• The speed of writing may influence the performance of
the students.
• Essay type tests have many disadvantages still they are
popular and widely used

27. SUGGESTIONS
FORESSAY TYPE
TESTS

28. CONSTRUCTING GOOD ESSAY TYPE
QUESTIONS:-
• Give adequate time and thought to the preparation of
essay questions so that they can be re-examined
revised and edited before they are used. This would
increase validity of the test.
• The test constructor or the paper setter should
prepare ideal answers to all the questions
• While framing questions, the question should be so
written that it will the elicit the type of behavior the
teacher wants to measure.

29. CONTD…..
• The expected length of answer of each question should
be indicated on the paper.
• Delimit the area covered by the question.
• Use words which them-selves give directions e.g.
define, classify etc.
• Give specific directions to students to elicit desired
response e.g. discuss the experimental method of
research by providing certain studies conducted in
nursing.

30. CONTD…..
• Indicate clearly the time suggested for answering it.
• Questions should be such as they require examines to
show the reasonable command over the essential
knowledge of the subject matter being evaluated.
• Question should be so worded that all the examiners
interpret them in the same as the examiner wants.
• Do not start essay question with such words as list,
who, what, whether because they are likely to be short
answer questions.

31. • It should be a balanced paper in the sense that it includes
different types of question essay type (long and short essays)
or short answer and very short answer type.
• Include a variety of questions to assess abilities like
knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis.
• There should be clear instructions to the students regarding
the number of questions to be attempted, marks given to
each question and marks reserved for any special purpose
such as diagrams, neatness etc. and it may be given in the
beginning of the question paper.
CONTD…..

32. SCORING ESSAY
TYPE TESTS

33. CONTD……….
• Prepare a marking scheme, suggesting the best
possible answer. Decide in advance which factors
will be considered in evaluating an essay response.
• Valuator should use appropriate methods to
minimize bias.
• Valuator should pay attention only to the
significant and relevant aspects of the answer.

34. CONTD……..
• Valuator should apply a uniform standards
to all the papers.
• Check the provided marking scheme, against
actual responses and consistently throughout
assessment apply uniform norms for all
papers.
• Grade only one question at a time for all
papers to minimize halo effect and to
familiar with set of scoring criteria.

35. ESSAY QUESTION
• KNOWLEDGE :-how, many, when, where, what.
• COMPREHENSION :-Give illustrations, describe, explain.
• APPLICATION :-Give underlying principle,
generalize, relate.
• ANALYSIS :-Analyze a problem, analyze data.
• SYNTHESIS :-Formulate a new plan, design an
approach.
• EVALUATION :-Examine conclusions, judge
accuracy, validity, realibility

36. GRADING ESSAY

37. Uses appropriate methods to
minimize the error
Pay attention only to the significant
and relevant aspects of the answer.
Apply uniform standard to all the
papers.

38. METHODS OF GRADING
ANALYTICAL METHOD:-
In the analytical method the ideal answer to a
question is specified in advance, the ideal answer
is broken down into specific points.
In essence, it is a checklist that can be used
objectively

39. CONTD…..
• ADVANTAGES:-
• It can yield very reliable scores.
• The subdivision of the model answer can make it
easier to discuss with the students the marks
awarded to them.
• LIMITATIONS:-
• It is very laborious and time consuming.
• In attempting to identify the elements, undue
attention may be given to superficial aspects.

40. GLOBAL METHOD
In the global scoring the ideal
answer is not subdivided into
specific points. The examiner is
interacted to read the
responses rapidly from a
general impression and using
some standard assign rating
to the responses use good-
average-poor

41. CONTD…..
• ADVANTAGES
• It is effective when large number of essays are
to be ready.

42. • In order to bring more objective the answers can be
scored beautifully. That is, the same teacher
valuing the answer of a particular question.
• ADVANTAGES:-
• Reliability will higher.
• More objective.
•
SEQUENTIAL SCORING

43. OBJECTIVE
TESTS

44. • Objective test is one that can be
provided with a single pre-
determined test of correct answers
so that objective opinion or
judgement in the scoring procedure
is eliminated.
RL Ebel and DA Frisbe, 1986

45. CLASSIFICATION OF
OBJECTIVE TYPE TESTS

47. SHORT ANSWER
TYPE TESTS

48. CONTD…..
• Short answer items are considered objective items
in that there is a single correct answer can be
secured objectively that can be answered by a
word, phrase, number or a symbol.

49. COMMON VARIETIES OF SHORT
ANSWER FORM
• The question variety:-Here the item is
presented as direct question,
• e.g. Who is the founder of modern
nursing.

50. CONTD…..
• The completion variety:-Here an
incomplete statement is used.
• E.g. Sphygmomanometer is used to measure
blood pressure

51. CONTD……
• The association variety:-Here a few
items are given outside the bracket.
Students are expected to write
exactly related response in the
bracket.
• e.g. Write the name of the common
instrument which measures the
following temperature(……), blood
pressure(……), heart rate(…..)

52. ADVANTAGES OF
SHORT ANSWER
TESTS

53. • Increase confidence in their own learning, in
trying out new ideas
• Generate power in students to make a
difference to their learning and performance
• Develop enthusiasm for collaborative working
• Improve team work and greater flexibility in
their use of different strategies of
performance.

54. CONTD……..
• Easy to construct them as they measure only simple
learning outcomes.
• Useful for recall of simple memorized facts.
• They are useful to test lowest level of cognitive
taxonomy i.e. knowledge of terminology, classification
etc.
• Marking is relatively objective.
• There is little scope for the influence of handwriting
and spelling etc. on marking

55. DISADVANTAGES


56. CONTD……
• They are not suitable for measuring
complex learning outcomes.
• They are not suitable for judging the
reasoning of the student

57. SUGGESTIONS IN SHORT
ANSWER TYPE TESTS

58. • Sufficient number of short answer questions
should be asked to cover the content.
• A direct question is more desirable than an
incomplete sentence.
• Language of the question should be simple.
• A scoring key must be prepared.
• The number of words the answer should
contain must be specified.

59. CONTD………..
• For computational problem, the examiner must
specify the degree of precision and the units of
expression expected in the answer.
• INCORRECT:-What is area covered by primary
health center?
• CORRECT:-What is ideal size of population
covered by each primary health center?

60. CONTD……
• The response should be very definite. E.g. Health
survey and development committee submitted its
report in 1946.
• Avoid excessive blanks in single item.
• Have the blanks occur near the end of a sentence.
• INCORRECT:-……. Is the IMR of India.
• CORRECT:-The IMR of India is ……..

61. • To test the knowledge of definition and
terms, use a direct question in which the
term is given
• INCORRECT:-What scientific term is
used for rising and falling temperature?
• CORRECT:-What is pyrexia?

62. MULTIPLE CHOICE
QUESTIONS:

63. • “A multiple choice item consists of a problem
and a list of suggested solutions. The suggested
solutions may include words, number, phrases
or symbols and are called alternatives or
options. The student is typically requested to
read the stem and the list of alternative
solutions and to select the one correct response”
E. Gronlund, 1985

64. CONTD…..
A multiple choice questions has two parts i.e.
the stem and the options or responses
• The Stem consisting of a direct question or an
incomplete statement, that is answered or
completed by one of the alternatives.
• The Options or responses refer to them. There
will be two or more alternatives consisting of
answers to question or completion of
statement.

65. VARIOUS FORMS IN MULTIPLE CHOICE
QUESTIONS
• Correct answer form:-It contains three or
more choices but only one of them is
correct.
• Best answer form:-In this one or more or
all the choices may be correct but one of
them is the best answer. The examinee is
required to select the best one.

66. CONTD….
• Multiple response form:-Here the correct
answer may consist of more than one choice
and the examinee is asked to identify all those
which are correct.
• Incomplete statement form:-Here the stem is
incomplete and can be completed by the
correct response. The examinee is asked to
select the correct one.

67. COMMONLY USED
FORMAT IN
MULTIPLE CHOICE
QUESTIONS

68. Stem:- Who is the following invented
microscope?
• Response:- a) Robert Koch
b) Chester Bernard
c) Alexander Fleming
d) Hansen Fredrick
QUESTION VARIETY

69. • Incomplete variety:-
Stem:-Microscope was invented by
Response:- a)Robert Koch
b) Chester Bernard
c) Alexander Fleming
d) Hansen Fredrick
INCOMPLETE VARIETY

70. • Stem:- What is normal body temperature?
• Response:- a) 35.20C
b) 36.40C
• c) 370C
• d) 390C
ONE CORRECT ANSWER
FORMAT

71. MERITS OF
MULTIPLE CHOICE
QUESTIONS

72. CONTD….
• They can measure from the most elementary
knowledge level to the most complex level,
understanding and judgement and ability to
solve problems.
• They can be scored entirely objectively, quickly
and accurately by machines.
• They can be conveniently used for numerous
subject matter areas.

73. CONTD….
• They reduce the effect of guessing because
there are three or four options.
• They are objective in scoring because the
key for the correct answer is prepared
along with the test.
• Their format is helpful in item analysis to
find out the area of weakness of the
students

74. LIMITATIONS OF
MULTIPLE
CHOICE
QUESTIONS

75. CONTD…..
• They are very difficult to construct and time
consuming
• It is very difficult to find four choices for every item
• They do not permit the examinees to express their
own views.
• They cannot measure attitude or motor skills.
• They require more time for students to respond it

76. GUIDELINES FOR
CONSTRUCTION
OF MULTIPLE
CHOICE
QUESTIONS

77. CONTD….
• The stem should be clearly stated and include
the material which is essential for clarity.
• The options should be three or four, be as short
as possible but clear, avoid repetition of words
to save reading time, avoid all of these and
none of these.
• The article a or an should not be used to
introduce alternatives.

78. CONTD…
• Avoid using unfamiliar and difficult vocabulary.
• Avoid giving irrelevant clue to the correct
answers
• The correct answer should follow a random
order.
• When an incomplete statement format is used
the options should come at the end of the
statement.
•

79. RATING SCALE

80. • Rating is term used to express the
opinion or judgment regarding some
performance of a person, object,
situation , situation or character.
RATING

81. • It refer to a scale with a set of opinion
which describe varying degree of the
dimensions of an attitude being
observed.
RATING SCALE

82. • GRAPHIC RATING SCALE:
• In this scale the performance is printed
horizontally at various points from lowest to
highest. It includes the numerical points on the
scale. It is anchored by two extreme points
presented to respondents.
E.g. How much you are satisfied with noise
control in the ward
TYPES OF RATING SCALE

83. EXAMPLE

84. • This type of rating scale do not use
number, but divide the assessment in to
series of verbal phrases to indicate the
level of performance.
• For eg. Judge the level of performance
of nursing personnel in medical ICU.
DESCRIPTIVE RATING SCALE

86. • It divide the evaluation criteria in to
fixed number of points ,but define only
number at extreme. in these scales, each
statement is generally assigned a
numerical score ranging from 1to10 or
even more.
NUMERICAL RATING SCALE

87. EXAMPLE

88. • In this type of rating scale, the
researcher makes a judgement about an
attribute of a person by comparing it
with that of a similar another person.
• For eg. Mr. Ram ,s decision making
abilities closely resemble those of Mr.
Shyam and Mr. Gopal.
COMPARATIVE RATING SCALE

89. CHARACTERISTICS OF RATING SACLE
CHARACTERISTICS OF RATING SCALE

90. • Easy to administer and score the
measured attributes.
• Rating scale have a wide range of
application in nursing research.
• Graphic rating scale is easier to make
and less time consuming.
ADVANTAGES OF RATING SCALE

91. CONTD…..
• Rating scale can be easily used for a
large group.
• Also used for quantitative methods.
• Used to evaluate performance and skill
and product outcomes

92. • It is difficult to fix up rating about many
aspect of an individual
• Misuse can result in decrease in
objectivity.
DISADVANTAGES OF RATING
SCALE

93. SUMMARIZATION

96. BIBLIOGRAPHY

97. • Basavanthappa BT.(2003).Nursing Education.1st edn.Jaypee
publishers.Pp 469-477
• Hungler Bernadette P, Polit Denise F. Nursing Research
Principles & Methods. 5th ed.Philadeiphia: J.B.Lippincott
Company; 1995.
• Sharma SK. Nursing Research & Statistics. India: Elsevier
Publication company; 2011
• Yadav M K. Textbook of Nursing research and Statistics with
Nursing Theories and Models. Lotus Publishers Jalandhar;2014
•

98. Thank you……….